Stranger Then Fiction
by RogueWitch
Summary: While reading one night a stranger appears in Willow's bathroom. How did he get there? Where did he come from? And can they send him back?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I just want to say, I haven't abandoned any of my other stories, most importantly my most recent ones, but I got this idea while at work one day, and it just wouldn't let go until I started working on it. I have the first five installments complete, and will be updating a few times a week, until I get this story out of my system and finished.

There is an inherent magic in books, open one up and you can be transported anywhere, to anytime. They can transport you to lands you have never even dreamed of, and turn your world upside down. With everything else in her life, Willow didn't have nearly as much time to read as she would have liked, but with the Hellmouth quiet for once, and Buffy in LA visiting her father, Willow was spending the weekend catching up on her reading.

She borrowed Giles copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, and grabbed copies of the Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban from the library, figuring she could at least polish those off before Buffy came back Sunday evening.

By Saturday evening she was in love. It always amazed her how she could become so captivated by little black writing on a page, but this time it was easy, she could see so much of the Scooby Gang in the Golden Trio. She was enamored with how the three school children tackled very adult situations, but what surprised her most was her infatuation with Severus Snape's tragic character. She wasn't sure if it was her friendship with Angel or the elegant way his tragedy was penned, but she was infatuated.

It was too late on Saturday for her to trouble Giles, so she ran over to the Wiccan Bookstore and picked up the Goblet of Fire.

Books for the Wiccan store always smelled amazing, their pages infused with the scents of dozens of different incents and herbs. The books nearly buzzed with life. Willow took a deep breath; she could detect a hint of sandalwood, frankincense and myrrh, and just the faintest whiff of jasmine to sweeten the bunch.

Willow lit candles around her bathroom and drew a hot bath filled with lavender bubbles and settled down to devour the fragrant book. The light for the full moon outside and the candle flames enchanted the bathroom, drawing Willow so far into her imagination she didn't even notice when the book started to glow.

"What is the meaning of this," a voice rumbled through the bathroom, causing Willow to drop her book into the water.

A black clad man stood in the middle of her bathroom, his robes taking up nearly all available floor space. Willow squeaked and did her best to cover herself with the few remaining bubbles in the bath.

The man turned at the noise and gave and apprising look at Willow, who was woefully uncovered from the lack of bubbles.

"That daft old man slipped something in my drink again," the man in black said, while Willow slipped her hand along the side of the tub to where she set a stakes and a cross. "Though this one is much nicer than the stampeding hypogriphs from last year."

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my bathroom?" Willow finally said, once the stake and cross were securely in her hands.

"I do wish the old fool would cease with his April Fools jokes," the dark man continued, completely ignoring Willow. "His illusions are quite good, though."

"Does this feel like an illusion?" Willow asked, chucking the cross at the man, hitting him wetly, square in the chest. The man just looked at the cross that had clattered to the ground. Willow fished the book out of the water and plopped the sodden mass on the floor before grabbing a towel and getting out of the bath, pushing the man out of her way in the process. "Now, who in the bloody hell are you?" the now toweled witch asked. "And what the hell are you doing in my bathroom?"

"What?" the man asked, seeming to gather his wits about himself. "I assure you, young lady, I did not bring myself to your presence. He was now averting his eyes, presumably since she was no longer an illusion. "The question is, how was I transported to an American Muggle's residence without my knowledge?"

"Did you just say 'Muggle?'?" Willow asked, looking down at her ruined book.

"It is a term we use for people who are not like me?" the dark clad man said hesitantly.

"I know what a Muggle is, Professor Snape," Willow said, taking an educated guess. The look on the man's face confirmed her suspicion. "And you can't be here, well apparently you can, but it's impossible," Willow strode past eh baffled man into her bedroom, collecting clothing as she went. She turned around and went right back into the bathroom with her arms full of clothes, slamming the door in the perplexed professor's face.

"What do you mean it's impossible?" Snape called through the door. "I admit it is quite unusual, but I assure you, I've been in a Muggle house before."

"I'm sure you have," Willow said, opening the door, now dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. "But I'm not a Muggle," Snape looked skeptically at her. "I'm not, but you are fiction." Willow handed him the sodden copy of Goblet of Fire. "Sorry it's a bit wet."

"A bit," Snape said, reading the title. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?" Snape turned the book over and read the back. "This is preposterous."

"It's actually quite well written for a children's book," Willow said.

"I am not a character in a children's story," Snape said, handing the book back to Willow. "I am a wizard, a well-respected potions master, and Harry Potter can't be more than seven years old."

"Then I probably shouldn't let you read the rest of the books," Willow said, putting the wet book on her bathroom vanity. "I need to call Giles; he'll know how to fix this."

"I don't think I understand what there is to fix," Snape said, looking at Willow strangely as she dialed Giles' number, waiting for the older Englishmen to answer the phone. "Just get me to an international Floo, and I'll chalk this up to wild magic."

"I don't think you understand Professor," Willow said. "Giles, I seem to have a bit of a situation." She listened to the voice on the other end of her phone. "Yep, send out the Bat Signal, I'll be right over." She turned back to the impatient looking wizard, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't exist, there are no Floos; you're a character in a book, trust me."

"You're a Muggle, of course you think this is all fiction," Snape said.

"I'm not a Muggle," Willow snapped her fingers and made her bear float over to her. "Magic is just a bit different here."

"You're saying," Snape said, toying with his wand. "That there is no Hogwarts, no Ministry of Magic, none of it?"

"Nope," Willow said, placing her bear back on the bed. "The world of Harry Potter is relegated to a series of books and movies."

"No Voldemort," Snape said, pulling up his sleeve to show a faded snake and skull. "I think we should see this Giles of yours," Snape said. "As wonderful as the prospect of a world without the Dark Lord is, I have work to do."

"You may want to leave the robes here," Willow suggested. "I mean you're going to stick out anyway, but without the robes you'll stick out less."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: And part two is here, a little later then I would have liked, and a little shorter (sorry), but the stomach flu has kept me from my computer for a few days. I hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to review.

Willow drove Snape over to Giles in her old SUV, thankful that unlike Lady Buffy from high school Halloween, she didn't have to explain the automobile to the wizard. She did have to explain driving on the right and miles per hour as the dark wizard kept a death grip on his seat while she drove thirty miles an hour through town.

"Does everyone drive at such rapid speeds?" the sheet white wizard asked as he extracted himself from the car.

"Don't you all ride on brooms?" Willow countered, not bothering to tell him that she drove more than twice as fast on the highway.

"Many wizards do, I prefer to simply apparate," Snape said, crossing his arms across his chest. "Of course brooms have safety spells built in, making them much safer than a giant metal box."

"With doors and safety belts and airbags," Willow ticked off on her fingers.

"Your vehicle becomes buoyant?" Snape asked, intrigued.

"No, the airbags are to cushion the driver in case of an impact."

"So the car does not float," Snape said, following Willow to Giles house.

"No," Willow conceded. "We try to avoid driving into standing water."

"I see," Snape said. "I think I will walk from this point further, at least until it is safe for me to apparate."

"Hopefully we can get this straightened out and you'll be back at Hogwarts by breakfast, or dinner, I don't know the specifics of inter-dimentional travel and time zones." Willow figured that Giles would know, if there was a way to know.

"And this man we are going to see," Snape looked skeptically at the red head. "I assume he is a wizard."

"I'll let Giles explain everything," Willow opened the door to the Watcher's house without bothering to knock.

Spike sat on a dining room chair, toying with an unlit cigarette, while Anya and Xander sat far too close together on the couch. Giles was the only one facing the door as the unlikely pair walked in.

"Oh my," Giles took off his glasses, cleaning them as he joined the Scooby's in the living room. "Willow, might you introduce us to your friend?"

"Giles, this is Professor Severus Snape," Willow said, Spike just gave a bark of laughter while everyone else stared. "Professor Snape, this is Spike our resident vampire, Anya and Xander, and our Watcher, Rupert Giles."

"Yes, well," Giles said, taking his glasses off again. "This is certainly unprecedented."

"You're the evil wizard dude from those movies?" Xander asked.

"No, Xander," Anya explained to her boyfriend. "That's not Allen Rickman."

"You mean to say," Giles took over for the bickering couple. "That this is the actual Severus Snape?"

"Red," Spike stuck the cigarette he'd been playing with behind his ear. "Have you been doing magic again?"

"I haven't messed up a spell in a long time," Willow told the vampire.

"Not since Darth Willow," Anya said, not quite under her breath. Xander shushed her.

"And I wasn't doing anything," Willow chose to ignore the ex-demon. "I was reading Harry Potter, not even a magic book."

"No," Willow looked down at her hands, knowing she probably should have through to bring it. "I kind of dropped it in the bath."

"That's unfortunate," Giles sat down in the living room, gesturing for Willow and Snape to do the same.

"Other than having a wet book," Xander said. "What's the problem?"

"Water, as well as salt, tends to neutralize most magics," Giles went into watcher mode. "That's where the idea that vampires can't cross -moving water or that a circle of salt will protect you from all kinds of unsavory character. And while water is mostly useless in deterring vampires, it will nullify a myriad of magics."

"And I'm guessing the bath salts will take care of the rest," Willow said.

"I would assume so," Giles said, getting up to serve his guests tea. "I would like to take a look at the book, though. Bring it by the shop tomorrow. For now, I'm afraid, Professor, that you are to be our guest."

"Well, we have plenty of room at Chez Slayer," Willow said, sinking down into the far end of the couch.

"I'm sorry," Snape looked confused. "Slayer House? That seems a little brutal a name for an inn."

"No, it's what we call Buffy's house," Willow said. "It's where I live, with Buffy and her little sister, Dawn."

"Buffy's the Slayer," Xander dead panned. "You want to take it from there, G-man?"

"Xander, I do wish you would stop with that ridiculous nick name." Giles cleaned his glasses and took a deep breath. "Unto each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world with the strength and skill…"

"One girl," Snape interrupted. "In the entire world?"

"Yes," Giles said. "Everyone seems to get stuck on that part. I did not make up the rules. And there are two now, anyway. They fight the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness."

"With our help," Xander helpfully added.

"But didn't you say that your friend over there is a vampire?" Snape pointed to Spike, who started flipping through one of Giles copies of Harry Potter that happened to be sitting on the shelf.

"I don't eat people anymore," Spike said, mostly ignoring the group.

"He's got a chip in his head," Anya said. "It keeps him from hurting anyone human."

"Ahh," Snape said, not entirely understanding what the group was talking about, but choosing to figure it out at a later time.


End file.
